Fernando Alonso relishes the prospect of delivering Aston Martin’s maiden win in Formula 1 but insists that the team must prioritise regular podiums in 2024.
Alonso’s move to Aston Martin last year coincided with it emerging as a certified contender at the front, enabling him to land six podiums in the opening eight rounds.
But having been Red Bull’s closest challenger across the opening stages, Aston Martin was unable to sustain that competitiveness throughout an intense development race.
The Silverstone squad has detailed that its AMR24 car marks a “strong evolution” from its predecessor with changes made to combat the stagnation it endured last term.
Alonso has explained that he is satisfied with the revisions Aston Martin has implemented but accepts that the scale of the team’s progress will only be evident on the track.
“The car I drove on the simulator a few weeks ago, but most of the program on the sim is going to happen tomorrow and this week, after we put the car on track as well,” Alonso told media including Motorsport Week. “So very early days to really spot the differences between the cars of last year and this year.
“Also, Bahrain, on track will give us the truth on everything. But it should be a good step forward.
“Some of the weaknesses that we saw last year, some of the inconsistencies that we had last year from track to track that we were more or less competitive, we try to tackle all those.
“So I’m reasonably happy with what the intent of all those changes is. So yeah, let’s see on track.”
Alonso addressed at the end of the previous season that Aston Martin must strive to reduce the excessive drag levels that left it vulnerable on the straights during 2023.
The Spaniard has reiterated that is one area of attention he hopes has been rectified while also noting high-speed performance as a weakness versus its closest competitors.
“From the car, I basically will love to have a little bit more downforce, especially on the high-speed corners; it probably was one weak area last year that I think we tried to improve in this year’s car,” he explained.
“Top speed was not the best last year, we were always fighting on the straights, and we were on the bottom on the charts always on the top of speed, so we try to be a little bit more efficient this year, a little bit faster on the straight.
“So there are a couple of points that I would love to see in the car when we hit Bahrain, winter testing, which probably will help us on Sundays, on the race weekends.”
Despite landing eight podiums – including three second places – the dominance of Red Bull last season prevented Alonso from achieving his first F1 win since May 2013.
Although Aston Martin Technical Director Dan Fallows reckons Red Bull is “beatable”, Alonso has cautioned the marque should focus on ensuring it is more consistent.
When Fallows’ comments were put to him, Alonso said: “Well, that’s a good thing that he says that. Put a smile on my face. I didn’t speak with Dan for a few weeks now.
“But, yeah, I think we have to be optimistic at this part of the season and I think we saw last year as well, Ferrari finished really strong and achieved a few pole positions in the last part of the year. McLaren also did a huge step during the season and got close to the Red Bull in a few races. So, yeah, let’s see what happens.
“I think we have to be a regular in the points first, fighting for podiums, so be a contender for podiums as we did last year. And then if we are in that position, it will be lovely to achieve the first victory in green for Aston Martin and hopefully I can be behind the wheel at that moment.
“But I think we have to go step by step. It’s going to be very tight. There are four or five teams within two or three-tenths of the second this year, I bet. So, that will put you, yeah, within two-tenths of the second fighting for podiums or fighting out of the top 10. So we need to be really focused on that.”
